1905
Book cover for "Photographic Amusements including a Description of a Number of Novel Effects Obtainable with the Camera" by Walter E. Woodbury (New York: The Photographic Times Publishing Association, 1905)

Book cover
This work is out of copyright
INTRODUCTION.
 
As Mr. Woodbury stated in his introduction to the original edition of this book, in order to avoid misunderstanding, it would be well to explain at the outset that it is not intended as an instruction book in the Art of Photography in any sense of the word. It is assumed that the reader has already mastered the technical difficulties of Photographic practice and is able to make a good negative or print.
 
It was the purpose of the author to describe a number of novel and curious effects that can be obtained by the aid of the camera, together with some instructive and interesting photographic experiments.
 
The contents of the work were compiled from various sources, chiefly from "The Photographic Times," "The Scientific American," "The American Annual of Photography," "La Nature," " Photographischer Zeitvertreib," by Herman Schnauss, and "Les Recreations Photographiques," by A. Bergeret et F. Drewin; and the illustrations were likewise taken from various sources.
 
In conclusion the author or compiler modestly lay claim to very little himself, quoting the words of Montaigne, who said:
 
"I have gathered me a paste of other men's flowers, of which nothing but the thread that binds them is mine own."
 
And yet so popular did the book prove that in the course of its nearly ten years of life, it ran through edition after edition, and now is entirely out of print.
 
The publishers of The Photographic Times thereupon, acquired the copyright of the popular volume and, herewith, republish an entirely new edition, which they send forth on its mission of instruction and entertainment.
 
W. I. LINCOLN ADAMS.
NEW YORK, January, 1905.
 
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